RNC officially bows out of hosting primary debates — for now

The Republican National Committee is pausing its participation in 2024 GOP primary debates, the organization decided Friday.

The RNC’s decision, made by a 16-member internal body, means that any forthcoming debates will be hosted by networks independently of the committee. Two outlets — ABC and CNN — have announced plans to host future debates in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of early state voting. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already said he will attend CNN's planned Iowa debate before next month’s caucuses.

“We have held four successful debates across the country with the most conservative partners in the history of a Republican primary. We have no RNC debates scheduled in January and any debates currently scheduled are not affiliated with the RNC,” the RNC’s Committee on Presidential Debates said in a statement. “It is now time for Republican primary voters to decide who will be our next President and candidates are free to use any forum or format to communicate to voters as they see fit.”

The first of the committee's four Republican primary debates was televised on Fox News in August. Since the first event, the committee has raised the thresholds for fundraising and polling that candidates need to qualify.

The RNC-established benchmarks have helped to winnow the field. While eight candidates participated in the August debate, only four took the stage at Wednesday’s showdown in Tuscaloosa, Alabama: DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The field is considerably smaller at this point than during the last seriously contested GOP primary in 2016, when going into January of that year there were still 12 candidates appearing in debates.

Former President Donald Trump has refused to participate in any of the RNC-sponsored debates. He has aggressively pressured RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to forgo hosting debates, arguing that he has a wide lead in the polls and that the committee should be focused on preparing for the general election.

The committee has also faced pressure from Trump’s lower-polling rivals, who argued that the party should allow candidates to participate in an array of forums and debates without penalty. The candidates each signed an RNC pledge earlier this year that they would not take part in any debate that was not sanctioned by the RNC.

Without the centralized organizing mechanism the RNC provided, media companies will now be responsible for hosting future debates. It is an arrangement that comes with pitfalls, as is already apparent.

After CNN on Thursday evening announced plans to host a Jan. 21 debate at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College, just three days after Saint Anselm had already announced that it will be hosting a debate with ABC News on Jan. 18. Neil Levesque, the executive director of the college’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, on Friday morning wrote on X: “We were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked.”

Reached for comment on Friday, a CNN spokesperson stood by their plans with the college saying in a statement: “We can’t speak to any miscommunication within Saint Anselm, but we are moving forward with our plans to host a debate in New Hampshire on January 21.”

Media outlets will determine qualification thresholds, not the RNC. CNN has said that candidates must poll at 10 percent in approved national and early-state surveys. ABC News has yet to announce its benchmarks.

Trump is highly unlikely to participate in any future debates, aides say.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/OwMQWbz
via IFTTT

Read More

Harvard president says 'I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret' after antisemitism testimony

Harvard University president Claudine Gay apologized Thursday for her comments during a House Education committee hearing, during which she said that calling for genocide of Jews may or may not violate university rules "depending on the context."

Gay is among several university presidents who have faced intense criticism of their response to antisemitism on campus following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October.

In her testimony earlier this week , Gay acknowledged an “alarming” rise in antisemitism at Harvard. But, when asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews [violates] Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment,” she responded “It can be, depending on the context,” sparking fury inside and outside the university community.

"I am sorry," Claudine Gay told Harvard’s student newspaper in an interview on Thursday. "When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret."

The House Education Committee followed its hearing with an announcement on Thursday that it will investigate Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania.

“After this week’s pathetic and morally bankrupt testimony by university presidents when answering my questions, the Education and Workforce Committee is launching an official Congressional investigation with the full force of subpoena power into Penn, MIT, & Harvard and others,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of the committee who asked especially pointed questions during the presidents' testimony, said in a statement.

Gay is among many university presidents who have faced intense criticism of their response to antisemitism following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October. Axios reported on Thursday that University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, whose testimony this week has also been widely panned, was asked to resign by the board of Penn’s Wharton business school.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/69djfZb
via IFTTT

Read More

CNN plans unsanctioned GOP debates in Iowa, New Hampshire

CNN announced Thursday it will host Republican presidential candidate debates before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary next month — throwing a wrench into a process that thus far has been managed exclusively by the Republican National Committee.

The respective debates, set for Jan. 10 in Des Moines and Jan. 21 just outside Manchester, aren’t sanctioned by the RNC, which has organized the first four debates, including Wednesday night’s broadcast in Alabama.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled almost immediately that he intends to appear at CNN’s Iowa debate. Other candidates have yet to say if they will participate.

Campaigns have continuously complained about current RNC rules, which say a candidate who participates in an unsanctioned debate is barred from future RNC-approved gatherings. But the RNC’s debate committee is expected to meet Friday to discuss officially removing that rule, according to three people with knowledge of the group’s plans.

DeSantis on multiple occasions in the last month spoke out against the RNC’s restrictions, accusing the party of “doing the bidding of” Donald Trump by actively limiting candidates’ opportunities to face each other in a variety of settings. Trump has not appeared at any of the four RNC-sponsored debates this year.

The committee last month initially tried to forbid the candidates from participating in a roundtable held by a prominent Iowa evangelical Christian group, The Family Leader, but relented after pushback from the campaigns and allied organizations.

In October, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie were barred by the committee from debating each other on Fox News Channel, forcing the cable network to instead schedule two separate forums for the candidates.

Ramaswamy, who previously called for the fifth debate to be aired exclusively on the social media website X, rather than cable or broadcast television, described the RNC’s rules as being part of a “brokered and rigged nomination process.” Christie, too, slammed the committee this fall for its restrictions on outside debates.

But CNN’s announcement of 2024 debates came before any decision was made by the RNC, a sign that the cable network may be angling to get ahead of other news outlets that are also planning early-state debates in the wake of the RNC’s rule change.

A press release published on CNN’s website said the RNC “is expected to announce this week it will release candidates from its requirement that prevents them from participating in non-RNC-sanctioned debates.”

POLITICO reported earlier this week that ABC News was also preparing for a debate before the New Hampshire primary. Historically, the network has worked with its Manchester affiliate, WMUR-TV, on a New Hampshire debate in the days leading up to the primary.

CNN’s criteria for extending invitations to the candidates will also be stricter than the RNC’s rules so far. Candidates need to earn 10 percent in pre-approved polls — both nationally and in the two earliest states on the GOP presidential calendar — to secure an invite.

According to POLITICO’s analysis, DeSantis, Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would be invited to the Iowa debate. Qualification for that one concludes on Jan. 2.

For the New Hampshire debate, just Trump and Haley have met CNN’s polling criteria so far. But the network will also invite the top three finishers in the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses; DeSantis, who lags in New Hampshire polling compared to his standing nationally and in Iowa, is in second place in Iowa polling averages.

Neither Christie nor Ramaswamy has met CNN’s criteria for either debate, according to POLITICO’s analysis.

Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/W6eHCJq
via IFTTT

Read More

Legal weed takes effect in Ohio as lawmakers scramble to change voter-passed law

Ohio is officially the 24th state to have legal, adult-use marijuana.

Provisions of a voter-approved legalization law took effect at midnight, including legal possession and home cultivation for anyone at least 21 years old.

But Ohio lawmakers are rushing to pass legislation to make changes to the initiative. On Wednesday, the Senate passed legislation to alter potency caps, taxation, home cultivation, and social equity and expungement provisions.

The Senate proposal would also speed up legal sales by allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to start serving recreational customers immediately.

The details: Adults can now possess up to 2.5 ounces of weed and grow up to six plants.

Under the voter-passed law, cannabis is subject to a 10 percent excise tax and revenues are directed towards an equity and jobs program.

The legalization law also sets up a new cannabis regulatory agency, which will have nine months to go through a rule-making process to launch adult-use sales.

What the Senate wants: The Senate proposal would halve the number of plants allowed for home grow, increase the excise tax to 15 percent and allow medical marijuana dispensaries to start serving the adult-use market immediately.

It would require expungements upon request and scrap the social equity and jobs program. Instead, the tax revenues would go towards law enforcement training, substance abuse treatment and the state's general fund.

“What the Senate passed yesterday still does not respect the will of the voters,” said Tom Haren, a spokesperson for the legalization campaign.

Haren says that potency restrictions and higher tax rates under the Senate bill will make it difficult to compete with the illicit market and will still drive Ohioans to buy marijuana in Michigan.

What’s next: The House Finance committee is taking up its own marijuana bill today. The House bill hews closer to the voter-approved initiative.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/GlThWtP
via IFTTT

Read More

California’s budget deficit balloons to $68B

California’s budget deficit has swelled to $68 billion after months of unexpectedly low tax revenues, a shortfall that could prompt the state’s deepest spending cuts since the Great Recession.

The latest deficit figure — calculated by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office and released Thursday — far exceeds a $14.3 billion estimate from June. The shortfall threatens to upend the upcoming legislative year by forcing Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers to make spending cuts on a scale that few term-limited elected officials in Sacramento have faced.

"California Faces a Serious Deficit," analysts wrote. "While addressing a deficit of this scope will be challenging, the Legislature has a number of options available to do so. In particular, the Legislature has reserves to withdraw, one‑time spending to pull back, and alternative approaches for school funding to consider."

The LAO forecasts a $4 billion drop in the amount of funding the state is required to send to schools and community colleges under Proposition 98, adding education to a list of possible targets for reductions that also includes climate and health care. But, the LAO added that lawmakers "could reduce" K-14 funding by $21 billion to mitigate the deficit.

Analysts suggested legislators could alleviate the problem by cutting one-time spending, cutting school funding or tapping into the state's tens of billions of dollars in reserves. Legislative leadership floated drawing from its savings last year, but Newsom opposed the idea and they remained untouched. Debates over whether to use the money will likely intensify next year, given the size of the shortfall.

Analysts also on Thursday forecasted annual $30 billion deficits in future years. The LAO recommended leaving up to half of the state's reserves intact to help mitigate those future shortfalls.

In January, Newsom will release his first budget proposal of the year, setting up negotiations over how to address the financial situation. A smaller deficit last year forced the governor to make the largest cuts of his tenure after years of massive surpluses. The state avoided deeper reductions by delaying spending and shifting money between the state’s general and special funds.

California could offset some cuts by further delaying spending, making some funding conditional on revenue bouncing back, or shifting money to bonds. But there’s already stiff competition for bond money, with mental health on the March ballot and November ballot proposals for education, climate and housing.

The stock market has started to recover, and California’s deficit could shrink if that continues by generating additional capital gains taxes. It would also reflect financial stability among some of the companies the state relies on for revenue.

“Stock prices are important leading indicators for future #CABudget revenues, and the indicators are up,” Jason Sisney, budget director for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, wrote in a LinkedIn post earlier this week.

Yet whether — and how much — those trends will shrink the state deficit won’t be clear until later next year, when Newsom unveils an updated budget proposal and deficit projections in May.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/ySqfbjX
via IFTTT

Read More

Biden calls on Congress to pass Ukraine aid: ‘We can’t let Putin win’

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he is willing to make “significant compromises” on border policy in exchange for funding for Ukraine and Israel.

“We need to fix the broken border system — it is broken,” Biden said from the White House ahead of a Senate procedural vote on his national security supplemental that Republicans plan to filibuster over a dispute on immigration policy. “Thus far, I’ve got no response.”

The president tried to elevate the stakes of the vote on his $106 billion supplemental spending plan, warning that a failure would send a dire message to Ukraine and European allies about the level of U.S. support for the embattled country.

“We can’t let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win. It’s in our overwhelming national interest, in the international interest of all our friends,” he said.

Weeks ago, Republicans insisted on border policy changes in exchange for backing Ukraine and Israel funding, which many of them support.

“It’s take everything we have here — their one proposal, which is extreme — or nothing,” Biden said. “They walked away.”

Progressives Democrats, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, have strongly resisted giving away border policy — such as making it harder for migrants to claim asylum or easier for a future president to close the border — in exchange for Biden’s foreign policy agenda.

Biden did not say how the administration or congressional Democrats would proceed once the Senate vote was held, except that he would likely address reporters afterward: “We’ll know where we go from there.”

Republicans have framed their expected opposition Wednesday as a message to express how serious they are about addressing what they call a crisis at the U.S. border. Biden dismissed the effort as “playing chicken with our national security.”

Biden warned that if Congress doesn’t defend Ukraine now, the United States risked having to put boots on the ground if Putin invades a NATO country.

“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden said. “If “Putin attacks a NATO ally — if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO ally — we’ve committed as a NATO member to defend every inch of NATO territory, and we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today.”

Biden's remarks reflect his latest warning to get his emergency funding request for Ukraine across the finish line. On Monday, White House budget chief Shalanda Young sent congressional leaders a letter warning that inaction before the end of the year on funding threatens to “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield.”

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/GDxEeRF
via IFTTT

Read More

US files war crime charges against Russians accused of torturing an American in the Ukraine invasion

WASHINGTON — Four Russian men accused of torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine have been charged with war crimes in a case that's the first of its kind, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.

It marks the first prosecution against members of the Russian armed forces in connection with atrocities during their war against Ukraine and the first time the Justice Department has brought charges under a nearly 30-year-old statute that makes it a crime to commit torture or inhumane treatment during a war.

The charges are largely symbolic for now given the unlikely prospects of the Justice Department bringing any of the four defendants — currently all fugitives — into custody. But U.S. officials described the case as a history-making moment in their ongoing investigation into Russian war crimes, and they foreshadowed the potential that more charges could be coming.

“This is our first, and you should expect more,” Attorney General General Merrick Garland said in announcing the case at a Justice Department news conference.

He said the department and the American people have a long memory: "We will not forget the atrocities in Ukraine. And we will never stop working to bring those responsible to justice.”

The four Russians are identified as members of the Russian armed forces or its proxy units. Two of them are described as commanding officers.

The Russians are accused of kidnapping an American man from his home in a Ukrainian village in 2022. The American was beaten and interrogated while being held for 10 days at a Russian military compound, before eventually being evacuated with his wife, who's Ukrainian, U.S. authorities said.

The American told federal agents who had traveled to Ukraine last year as part of an investigation that the Russian soldiers had abducted him, stripped him naked, pointed a gun at his head and badly beaten him, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

He was also subjected to harsh interrogation methods, threatened with sexual assault and forced to participate in his own mock execution, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Eastern District of Virginia.

“The evidence gathered by our agents speaks to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia’s invasion,” Mayorkas said.

Homeland Security and FBI investigators interviewed the American, his family and others who were around the village of Mylove around the time of the kidnapping to identify the four Russians, Mayorkas said.

"Cases like this one are among the most complex the FBI works, but bringing them is essential to deterring crimes like these and showing would-be perpetrators that no one is above the law and the war crimes will not go unpunished,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

Garland has been outspoken on war crimes in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, and the Justice Department assigned federal prosecutors to examine the potential of bringing criminal charges.

Independent human rights experts backed by the United Nations have said they’ve found continued evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces, including torture that ended in death and rape of women aged up to 83 years old.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia doesn’t recognize the ICC and considers its decisions “legally void.” He called the court’s move “outrageous and unacceptable.”

The United States is not a member of the ICC, but the Justice Department has been cooperating with it and supporting Ukrainian prosecutors as they carry out their own war crime investigations.

The four defendants are identified as Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan and Dmitry Budnik, both of whom are described by prosecutors as commanding officers in Russia's armed forces, as well as two lower-ranking officers identified only by their first names.

All four were fighting on behalf of Russia in its war against Ukraine and are identified in the indictment as either members of the armed forces or military units from the Donestk People's Republic. After invading Ukraine, Moscow in September 2022 illegally annexed parts of the Donetsk region and three other Ukrainian regions under its control as part of Russia.

The charges come as the Biden administration, in an effort to show continued support for Ukraine during a separate war between Israel and Hamas, is pressing Congress to approve military and economic aid for Kyiv’s war effort.

The U.S. and Russia do not have an extradition treaty, but the Justice Department has brought repeated criminal cases against Russian nationals, most notably for cyber crimes and including for interference in the 2016 presidential election. In some of those cases, the defendants have been taken into custody by American officials, such as when they’ve traveled outside Russia.

from Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories https://ift.tt/F5Kc0Jx
via IFTTT

Read More